Saturday, February 24, 2001

By Scott Schonauer
Rota bureau

ROTA, Spain — Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Forty has had little time to relax and settle into their seven-month deployment to Rota.

Members had to get to work almost immediately.

When they replaced Battalion 133 last week, their predecessors handed them a list of projects they didn’t finish at Naval Station Rota. The Port Hueneme, Calif. battalion — which has about 600 people in Spain with smaller detachments stationed throughout Europe — also has compiled a list of its own.

"We have a lot of work ahead," said Lt. Cmdr. Craig Prather, the operation officer who oversees the projects.

They have started three projects in Rota: renovating a building for Naval Special Warfare Unit 10 (SEALS), replacing the roof on a bachelor enlisted quarter building and fixing the lining to a water reservoir.

The Seabees also will send teams to Albania to build a road, to Bosnia to drill for water and Africa to build a dormitory for orphans.

And they have started working and planning on nearly every project.

Battalion Forty, known as the "Fighting Forty," has supported ground forces in World War II, Vietnam and the Persian Gulf War. The last time the unit was deployed to Spain, they helped troops conducting Operation Joint Endeavor in Bosnia.

Last week, Battalion 133 returned to its home base in Gulfport, Miss. During the unit’s deployment, small teams from the battalion traveled to Estonia, Moldova, Tunisia and Senegal to repair roads, bridges and help local communities. The unit also made improvements to Naval Station Rota, renovating the Spanish club Hay Motivo, putting a new roof above the bachelor enlisted living quarters and paving the drive-in theater parking lot.

What they didn’t finish, they left for their replacements.

Naval Mobile Construction Battalions rotate in and out of Rota, Spain and Guam on seven-month deployments. While in Rota, the Seabee battalions are prepared to send troops anywhere in Europe on a moment’s notice.

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